How to Dress Up Your Dinners

Although summer is coming to an end there is still plenty of time to host some great dinner parties with the girls. One of the tricks to a successful dinner get together is not only the delicious food, but how it is presented. You don't have to be a top notch chef to make a dish look like it's from a four star restaurant. Here are some plating tips from Startcooking.com

Set the table properly. Your day-to-day meals might be free-for-alls, but if you’ve got guests coming over, it’s nice to have the knives and forks in the right places.

Choose your plates wisely. Make sure your serving plates are big enough to let each food item stand out, but small enough that the portions don’t look tiny.

Read the clock! A foolproof way to arrange food on a plate is to place the carbohydrate (rice, pasta, bread, etc.) at “11 o’clock,” the protein at “2 o’clock,” and the vegetables at “6 o’clock” from the diner’s point of view. 

Be odd. Don’t be strange, but things generally look more interesting when they’re in sets of odd numbers, rather than even numbers.

Play with Height. This Chicken Stirfry with Broccoli looks more interesting because of the high mound of rice sitting next to it.  

Play with color and texture. Even if you’re serving something like fish sticks a rainbow of mixed vegetables on the side can make the dish look like a million bucks.

Garnish appropriately. Don’t lose sight of the recipe you made in the first place! Any garnishes on the plate should be edible and should enhance the flavor of the main dishes.

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